Xbox is in danger. Will Microsoft fix it or kill it?

"Phil Spencer, a two-time Decoder guest who's led Xbox for more than a decade, resigned last week. But in a shocking twist, his deputy and long-assumed successor, Sarah Bond, is also out too, and the Xbox division is now in the hands of Asha Sharma, one of Microsoft's AI executives with no prior game industry experience."

"There is a lot to say about Xbox: The story of the console and Microsoft Gaming is a complicated one, with a lot of twists and turns since it made its big splash in the video game industry 25 years ago. Yet for a majority of that time, it's been stuck in third place, behind Nintendo and PlayStation."

"Phil Spencer, who started at Microsoft in the late 1980s and took charge of Xbox in 2014, was given the job of trying to turn the division around. Since then, Spencer has tried numerous moves: the Netflix-style Game Pass subscription service; a major push into cloud gaming; buying Activision Blizzard King, the maker of Warcraft and Candy Crush."

Phil Spencer, who led Xbox for over a decade, recently resigned along with his expected successor Sarah Bond. Microsoft appointed Asha Sharma, an AI executive with no gaming industry experience, to lead the Xbox division. This leadership transition indicates Microsoft's intention to implement significant changes within its gaming operations, which manages major franchises including Halo, Call of Duty, and Minecraft. Xbox has historically struggled to compete, remaining in third place behind Nintendo and PlayStation despite Microsoft's substantial resources. Spencer previously attempted various strategies to improve Xbox's position, including launching Game Pass, pursuing cloud gaming initiatives, acquiring Activision Blizzard King, and developing multiple hardware iterations. Recent developments include plans to bring Halo to PlayStation, a move previously considered impossible within the gaming industry.

Read at The Verge